SLS Papers (2000-present)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10125/37634

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Construction of cooperative discourse: An analysis of interpreter-mediated discussion at a bilateral student forum
(2019) Lee, Eunsun
In East Asia, there have been an increasing number of multilateral forums organized by nonprofit organizations to promote mutual understanding and civil exchanges in the past two decades. Language becomes a major issue at these forums, in which participants often rely on voluntary interpreters to communicate with one another unlike many large-scale intergovernmental organizations that adopt a third language as their lingua franca. This paper explores the construction of cooperative discourse in interaction at a Korea-Japan bilateral student forum. In particular, it analyzes how participants strategically design their talks to enable effective delivery of their opinions and how the interpreter responds to those strategies by actively reconstructing the original speakers’ discourse. The findings identified two ways in which the interpreter played a key role in establishing cooperative discourse: by polishing the participants’ utterances while also maintaining the critical components of their mitigation and outlining strategies and by showing alignment with the speaker, the audience, and the content of the talks. These findings shed light on ways participants and the interpreter collaboratively display orientation to and discursively construct the institutional goal of promoting cooperation between the two countries.
#Blacklanguagematters: A case study of black identities in an L2 isiXhosa classroom
(2019) Lewis, Taylor
This paper explores the development of Black identity in a critical and culturally relevant beginner L2 isiXhosa course. While Black students have been a major focus in American education, little attention has gone to their identities in L2 classrooms. In African language courses specifically, Lee (2005) found that Black university students largely enrolled to connect with their African heritage. Van Deusen-Scholl (2003) classified these types of students as learners with heritage motivation. However, there has been little research on how Black students negotiate their historical-cultural heritage in a contemporary L2 classroom. In a case study conducted at the University of Hawaiʻi, four students participated in three twohour isiXhosa lessons designed to be culturally relevant and to critically examine their identities in relation to South African Xhosa culture. Along with survey and lesson discussion data, I interviewed students before and after the course to measure the development of their intersectional identities and perspectives. Drawing on a negotiated syllabus discussion, survey responses, and interviews, I used Rosa and Flores’s (2017) raciolinguistic perspective as a framework to analyze student perceptions of race, gender, and language to understand how the goals of these learners with heritage motivation converged with their intersectional identities and African heritage in an isiXhosa classroom. My findings show that the students developed awareness of their African heritage by shifting their perspectives away from negative outsider perceptions of Black and African communities. Their positive responses to the course relied both on the critical/cultural and linguistic content. This suggests that Black learners with heritage motivation value linguistic acquisition, and benefit from curriculum focused on the connections between Black and African cultures, exclusive of their historically linked oppressions.
Comparing receptive vocabulary knowledge and vocabulary production
(2019) Michel, Jessica Fast; Plumb, Emily Gazda
Vocabulary development in a second language is a complex process that has broad implications across all domains of language learning. In order for language learners to meaningfully engage with academic content in the target language, they must have a strong command of the kind of vocabulary used in an academic setting. The Vocabulary Levels Test (Nation, 1990; Beglar & Hunt, 1999), which assesses receptive vocabulary knowledge by asking learners to match lexical items to a short definition or description, is a common vocabulary assessment in academic settings. However, according to Coxhead and Nation (2001): For learners studying English for academic purposes, academic vocabulary is a kind of high frequency vocabulary and thus any time spent learning it is time well spent. The four major strands of a language course—meaning focused input, language focused learning, meaning focuses output, and fluency development—should all be seen as opportunities for the development of academic vocabulary knowledge, and it is important that the same words occur in each of these four strands. (p. 258) Thus, in order to get a more balanced idea of learners’ actual knowledge of academic vocabulary for both passive recognition and active output, tests for measuring it in both arenas are important. Most studies of language learners’ vocabulary knowledge have focused on only the measurement of their receptive knowledge (Beglar, 2010). Some have also considered learners’ vocabulary production in a writing sample (Laufer & Nation, 1999; Zheng, 2012) and few have investigated vocabulary knowledge in the domains of listening and speaking (but see McLean, Kramer & Beglar, 2015, for a report on creating and validating a vocabulary levels listening test). For those studies that examine written vocabulary abilities, they generally focus on either passive or active measures of vocabulary. This study attempts to compare and contrast analyses of receptive and productive vocabulary size from the same group of students in order to explore how these two facets of vocabulary knowledge may manifest in different ways.
Critical literacy as a pedagogical goal in English language teaching
(2018) Abednia, Arman; Crookes, Graham V.
In this chapter, the authors provide an overview of the area of critical literacy as it pertains to second language pedagogy (curriculum and instruction). After considering the historical origins of critical literacy (from antiquity, and including in first language education), they consider how it began to penetrate the field of applied linguistics. They note the geographical and institutional spread of critical literacy practice as documented by published accounts. They then sketch the main features of L2 critical literacy practice. To do this, they acknowledge how practitioners have reported on their practices regarding classroom content and process. The authors also draw attention to the outcomes of these practices as well as challenges that practitioners have encountered in incorporating critical literacy into their second language classrooms.
Hawaiian language normalization: An analysis of L2 Hawaiian speaker narratives
(2018) Adams, Kapuaokekoʻolauikaulupua Angelina Leiko
This study analyzes the degree to which the Hawaiian language has become normalized in a range of domains beyond language learning contexts for L2 Hawaiian speakers. First, two indepth interviews were conducted with two graduate students in the Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UHM). The interviews were then analyzed using narrative analysis and were organized thematically according to where students report that they use Hawaiian language in and outside of the UHM campus. The narrative data were then used to create a questionnaire to survey 32 students who are selfidentified proficient speakers of Hawaiian at UHM about where they use Hawaiian and for what purpose they use Hawaiian in different places and spaces in their lives. The data provide more insight into language normalization by showing where L2 Hawaiian speakers are using Hawaiian in their lives. The findings also provide valuable implications for the ongoing revitalization of ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi and give a clearer picture of L2 language use.
Modelling the perceived value of compulsory English education: A partial replication
(2018) Marquardt, Amy
The current paper reports on a partial replication of Rivers’ (2012) study which models the perceived value of compulsory undergraduate English classes in Japan. This study confirms that Rivers’ mixed methods approach identifies the value students, rather than governments and institutions, place on learning English by highlighting their motivations and investments towards using English as a foreign language. This paper outlines a recurring phenomenon of competing linguistic identity struggles between a nationalist identity and an imagined English user identity in an attempt to show the generality (Moerman, 1977) between Rivers’ context and the Balearic Island context. Although these students have different languages and come from different regions, the perceived values of the participants in the current study display similar perceived values concerning the purposefulness of learning English as foreign language (EFL) in reference to the increasing influence of English in non-English speaking countries. While this study uses similar mixed methods approaches to collect and analyze the data, it also highlights an additional selective code considering the EFL student values for engaging with English at the local level. Ultimately, the replication study not only confirms that Rivers’ model can be applied in similar contexts to identify the perceived value of compulsory English classes, it also discusses how the same understated and often undervalued student voices need to be addressed in ways like the ones seen in this study.
2016-2017 English language placement test (ELIPT) revision project
(2018) Brown, James Dean; Phung, Huy; Hsu, Wei-Li; Trace, Jonathan; Harsch, Kenton; Faucette, M. Priscilla
The main purpose of the research project was to analyze and revise the English Language Institute Placement Test (ELIPT) at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UHM). All international students admitted to UHM are required to take the ELIPT before they register for courses at the beginning of their first semester of study (unless they meet the university’s criteria for automatic exemption from the ELI). These students had previously reported their scores on standardized English proficiency tests (like the TOEFL or IELTS) as part of their application for admission to UHM. However, for placement purposes the ELI needs more detailed evidence of the students’ language abilities in order to determine how the ELI could best meet their needs for support in English for academic purposes.
Whaddya call that again? Materials for teaching connected speech
(2018) Nokes, James
In order to examine the phenomena of connected speech and the place technology has in its instruction, I must first examine the developments in speaking and listening instructor that have contributed to this area of research, instruction, and learning. The literature review, then, will present (a) an overview of current speaking instruction trends, (b) an overview of current listening instruction trends, (c) an explanation of connected speech and its features, (d) an overview of technology and computer-assisted language learning (CALL), and (e) an overview of technological interventions in connected speech instruction. Through my findings, I hope to explore the following research questions: 1. How do instructors and learners feel about pronunciation, listening, and connected speech instruction? 2. How do instructors and learners feel about using technology to mediate the above instruction? 3. What do instructors and learners think of a number of activities developed in light of RQs 1 and 2? 4. How does the research literature reflect the topics of pronunciation, pronunciation with suprasegmentals, and suprasegmentals with technology? 5. How can a series of pedagogical materials support the technology-mediated instruction of connected speech?
Developing online extensive reading and listening materials
(2018) Reinagel, Raquel
This paper aims to explain the process of creating extensive reading (ER) and extensive listening materials (EL) for learners of English. Four graded readers and four episodes of a podcast were produced in collaboration with other graduate students and faculty at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Although a direct learner population is not specified, these materials were designed for second/foreign English language learners preparing for or entering their first years at an English medium university. The main goals of this paper are to: 1. Explain my materials development process 2. Explain the pitfalls and solutions that occur during the materials development process 3. Show what materials exist online that can be used for extensive reading and listening
Complexity, accuracy, and fluency measures in oral pre-task planning: A synthesis
(2017) Suzuki, Mitsuko
Over the past few decades, researchers have investigated planning as a significant process in task-based language teaching (TBLT). Past studies have supported the effectiveness of planning in second language (L2) learners’ oral production, especially in terms of fluency (e.g., Foster & Skehan, 1996; Gilabert, 2007; Ortega, 1999; Sasayama & Izumi, 2012; Yuan & Ellis, 2003). However, considering the influence of planning on accuracy (e.g., Foster & Skehan, 1999; Lee & Oh, 2007; Mehnert, 1998; Mochizuki & Ortega, 2008) and complexity (e.g., Bei, 2010; Kawauchi, 2005; Nitta, 2007; Wang & Song, 2015; Wigglesworth, 1997; Yuan, 2001), research has yielded mixed results. One of the reasons for this inconsistency in results may be the different units that studies have used to measure complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF). This variety makes comparisons among pre-task planning studies difficult (Ellis, 2009b). Although researchers in CAF have commented on this issue at large (e.g., Lambert & Kormos, 2014: Plonsky & Kim, 2016), they have not yet focused directly on pre-task planning. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to spark the discussions around the use of CAF measures by synthesizing existing pre-task planning studies and comparing the CAF measures employed in a set of selected studies. A number of quantitative studies conducted between 1995 and 2016 were selected based on a set of inclusion criteria. In order to investigate the overall role of strategic planning in oral tasks, special focus was given to CAF measures and the operationalization of pre-task and main task, including (a) the instruction given prior to the planning, (b) type of pre-task planning activity, (c) length of planning time, and (d) type of main task. More than 200 studies were collected in the initial phase, of which 40 were selected for comparison. The overview of this research process and the findings will be presented after a brief review of existing pre-task planning studies. Finally, the paper will conclude with a discussion of how researchers can use CAF measures to develop a deeper understanding of pre-task planning.
Databank on stakeholder views of technology in language learning tools
(2017) Trace, Jonathan; Brown, James Dean; Rodriguez, Julio
This paper reports on the creation of a new databank of technology tools for second language learning based on the results of a questionnaire distributed to directors, instructors, and students within the Language Flagship Program in the United States. A thorough list of technologies across nine categories is provided that highlights what these technologies are, where they can be found, and how different stakeholders have reported using them both inside and outside of the language classroom. The goal of this paper is to create a list of potential and accessible resources for teachers and researchers currently or interested in integrating more technology-based applications and tools into their teaching to promote second language learning, assessment, and maintenance for their students. In addition, this paper is presented in conjunction with a newly available toolkit for technology resources for language learning established by the Language Flagship Technology Innovation Center.
Doing critical language pedagogy in neoliberal spaces: A materialist narrative analysis of teaching young learners of English in a Korean hagwon
(2017) West, Gordon Blaine
Critical language pedagogy has been practiced in many contexts, but there have been few reports of critical pedagogy being practiced in neoliberal spaces of private language education. In this paper, I document critical English language teaching initiatives using the specific case of a South Korean English private language school (hagwon) to demonstrate the possibilities of such an approach in a private institution. Using a critical practitioner research perspective (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009), I collected data from my classes at a hagwon over a 15-month period in the form of artifacts (ballots, student surveys, etc.), images, and student writings. I use emplotment (Polkinghorne, 1995) as a means of creating a narrative from non-narrative data and a materialist analysis (Alaimo & Hekman, 2008) to examine the data. Student resistance, negotiating syllabi, and learner-created materials, and critical episodes in three classes, illustrate the possibilities, need for, and limitations of critical pedagogy in neoliberal spaces.
2017 ELIPT writing test revision project
(2017) Brown, James Dean; Hsu, Wei-Li; Harsch, Kenton
The main purpose of this research project is to revise a previous rating rubric used in the English Language Institute placement test (ELIPT) at the University of Hawaii at Manoa (UHM). UHM requires newly admitted international students, who do not already meet the university’s criteria for automatic exemption from the ELI, to take the ELIPT prior to registering for courses in their first semester. Although, when applying for UHM programs, international students report their scores from standardized English proficiency tests, such as TOEFL or IELTS, more fine-grained information is necessary to assess students’ language abilities, as well as their needs for support with English for academic purposes during their first few semesters at UHM. In terms of writing proficiency, the ELI has determined that students should be able (a) to fluently generate sufficient written texts, (b) to achieve specific purposes, (c) for identifiable audiences, (d) with effective strategies, (e) at different stages of the writing process (such as generating, revising, editing, and proofreading), and (f) incorporate information from relevant and credible sources according to acceptable citation standards.
An evolving mainstream: A linguistic landscapes analysis of migration and assimilation in Cary, NC
(2017) Edmond, Lucas John
In this paper, I will juxtapose how two migrant groups, the South Asian and the Hispanic communities, establish their presence in Cary, North Carolina by means of this public signage. Initially conceptualized by Landry and Bourhis (1997) as the examination of language on public signs for purposes of measuring ethnolinguistic vitality, early studies of linguistic landscapes were primarily concerned with quantifying the codes of languages on signs. However, for this study, I draw on an ethnographic methodology for analyzing the linguistic landscapes (Blommaert, 2013). While still taking the signs in space as my starting point, I use sociohistorical information, interview data, and ethnographic observations to analyze more deeply how the signage indexes and symbolizes sociocultural relationships, much of which is not visible from the language code on the signs alone. Based on this, I will demonstrate that the linguistic landscape in Cary reveals the differential levels of sociocultural assimilation that these two communities have achieved in time, a difference tied to history, class, and geography. My analysis reveals that, although the two communities have a nearly equal historical presence in the town in terms of size, the South Asian community has created its own celebrated identity in town and become “mainstream” in Cary society, while the Hispanic community remains peripheral, both in terms of their visibility in the LL and in sociocultural status.
Ownership of English through study abroad: How Japanese EFL students mitigate native speakerist ideology
(2017) Saeki, Takuya
Several research studies have described English ownership among Japanese EFL learners (e.g., Matsuda, 2003; Saito & Hatoss, 2011; Sasayama, 2013) as low, indicating that they almost invariably showed their preference for native norms rather than allegiance to their own English varieties. While such research has demonstrated the dominance of this native speakerist (Holliday, 2006) ideology among L2 learners from many contexts, it is important to investigate opportunities in which such learners might overcome such ideologies to develop their ownership. This study examines how a study abroad context offers an opportunity to reimagine themselves as legitimate speakers of English (Norton, 1997). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 Japanese students studying in Hawai’i and analyzed by way of grounded theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). The findings revealed that study abroad helped the participants mitigate native speakerist ideology through various developments, including the awareness of the value of Japanese language, culture, and identity, a correction of previously idealized images of native speakers, the development of L2 speaker models, and use and knowledge of English as an international language, including the conception of English as a lingua franca. Based on the findings, I discuss how the current study can inform pedagogical practices not only in study abroad, but also in EFL contexts.
Place-based language learning using mobile technology: An analysis of an original mall game and its redesign for an ESL course
(2016) Daniel, Holden
In the field of Second Language Studies (SLS), there has been a growing interest in research in the areas of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) and Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) since the early 2000s. In addition to these researcher interests, the idea of using video games as language learning tools, particularly in online contexts, has been gaining popularity as well. In Holden and Sykes (2011), the researchers describe their unique work in a high school Spanish classroom which used an augmented reality MALL game that combined elements of mobile technology and video game design to create a new experience for the second language users. By utilizing a combination of theories of place-based learning and MALL, the research team at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa was able to design their own augmented reality game to be implemented in the Hawai‘i English Language Program (HELP). After analyzing both in-game data and data gathered in a series of post game interviews with both students and administrators, the game, Guardians of the Mo’o (Mo’o 1.0), was deemed to be successful in achieving its initial design goals and was given support to possibly become part of the regular HELP curriculum, pending modifications. This paper outlines the theoretical background for creating such a game and provides a detailed analysis of how Mo’o 1.0 was created and ultimately played by the target group of language learners. Then, the focus will be shifted to explaining how the second version of the game (Mo’o 1S) was redesigned and modified to fit into a new experimental course in the HELP summer curriculum.
Construction of affiliation through troubles-talk in online text chat
(2016) Dahyun, Park
Users of text-based synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) face the issue of how to construct stance and social relations within the affordances and constraints of the medium (Chun, 1994; Simpson, 2005; Smith, 2003; Warner, 2004; Werry, 1996). Previous studies have examined how participants construct affective stance and affiliation/disaffiliation with lexical and syntactic resources, abbreviations, symbols, and emoticons, and such actions as affiliative/disaffiliative assessments (Golato & Taleghani-Nikazm, 2006; González-Lloret, 2011, 2016; Smith, 2003). In everyday talk, intimate participants in particular also engage in troubles-talk as an (dis)affiliation-generating practice. As described by Jefferson (1988) and Jefferson and Lee (1981) from a conversation-analytic perspective, troubles-telling commonly advances through a sequence of ordered actions that involve, minimally, a description or display of the trouble by the teller and a (dis)affiliative response by the recipient (Lindström & Sorjonen, 2013). As yet, there are only a limited number of studies of troubles talk in text-based SCMC. To fill the gap, this study adopts conversation analysis (CA) to examine troubles-telling practices in online text chat (Tudini, 2010) between close friends. The participants' shared personal histories and academic discipline serve as resources that enable recognitional reference (Sacks & Schegloff, 1979) and an orientation to minimization more generally. These interactional preferences have a good fit with the structural constraints of the medium. The talks will show how the participants accomplish troubles-talk through recurrent interactional practices and in this way "do friendship" in an online text chat environment.
Engaged ethnography at a Samoan community language center: Culturally-based literacy and learning
(2016) Plumb, Emily Gazda
The study described in this report investigates the ideologies of literacy at Le Fetuao Samoan Language Center, a Samoan community language school located on the island of O‘ahu, Hawai‘i. I was invited to do research at Le Fetuao by Elisapeta Tuupo-Alaimaleata, the executive director and founder of Le Fetuao, when we were in a graduate seminar together at the University of Hawai‘i. I expressed interest in conducting research about the development of multilingual literacy and Tuupo-Alaimaleata invited me to visit her school because she was interested in exploring the role of literacy in Le Fetuao’s program implementation. In this report, I first present a conceptual framework that draws on theories of language ideologies, literacy, and cultural values. I briefly describe the cultural and historical background of Le Fetuao and describe my engaged approach to research methodology and data analysis. I then present my findings, which I draw from six months of observations at Le Fetuao and interviews with Samoan community leaders and language teachers. Ultimately, I discuss implications for community language schools and an engaged approach to community research.
Writing about writing: Qualities of metacognitive L2 writing reflections
(2016) Kim, Melissa M. Joyce
This case study of two L2 writers in an intermediate English writing class examines each student’s use of in-class opportunities for written, metacognitive reflection as part of a supplemental curriculum that also included the use of inventories, explicit explanation of relevant terms, and teacher modeling of metacognitive activity. Written reflections were completed throughout the course to facilitate metacognitive development and were used as the primary unit of analysis with the aim of gaining a deeper understanding of this development for the purpose of self-regulation. Flavell’s (1979) categories of person, task, and strategic metacognitive knowledge were utilized in the analysis of data as well as Norman and Aron’s (2003) concepts of availability, accessibility, and perceived control, proposed to affect motivation to achieve or avoid a possible future self. These ideas were used in order to examine the relationships between each individual’s expressed writing goals and aspects of their metacognitive activities. One student’s goal was available, accessible, and well-aligned to the course goals; this seemed to allow her to actively strategize to monitor her progress more effectively. Furthermore, she displayed a higher level of self-efficacy than the other student. Degree of self-efficacy seemed to affect the students’ level of perceived control; the other student’s pre-occupation with his negative self-efficacy seemed to hinder the development of strategic knowledge and his ability to monitor his progress, in spite of his stated enjoyment of writing. Additionally, his goals were less available, less accessible, and less aligned to the purpose of the course. Although more research is needed, the results point to a need for L2 writing curricula to include effective L2 writing goal-setting strategies in metacognitive classroom activities because of the potential effect on student motivation as well as metacognitive development.
Talking for writing: Questions in peer response to outline presentations in an L2 writing classroom
(2016) Oh, Youngmi
Questions are pervasive not only in ordinary conversation, but also in institutional interaction (Hayano, 2013). When deployed in institutional interaction, questions can serve as important resources and tools in pursuit of the institutional goals and practices, as has been shown for medical visits, courtroom interactions, broadcast news interviews (Heritage & Clayman, 2010), and educational contexts (Koshik, 2002; Lee, 2006). This paper examines question used by students asked to respond to outline presentations in an L2 writing classroom, focusing on the questions deployed in opening the response talk and giving advice while the response talk is underway. Drawing on conversation analysis as an analytical framework, this paper aims to show that the responders’ orientation to less fulfilled assignments or problematic potential with the writer’s presentation exploits questions, enacting their rights to critique. Also the question-answer sequence(s) involved in the previous talk function as an entry to advising talk, serving as resources and grounds for advice-giving. It is hoped that the findings can contribute to an understanding of the peer response on text is being talk and to draw more attention to peer response in the early stage of the writing process in L2 writing classrooms.

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